This invention relates to telecommunication services and systems, specifically such services and systems that convey the location of a mobile unit.
The wireless industry is currently gearing towards the provision of a wide range of location based services to the general public. Such services will include utilizing the location of a subscriber's portable remote unit to channel a wide range of location-based services to the subscriber. For such a service to be successful, the remote unit must be able to obtain and relay its location information to other communication targets of the network requesting such information.
In relevant prior art such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,245, Noreen and al, the location of a remote unit is employed to execute location specific instructions transmitted to the remote unit.
In Bird, U.S. Pat. No. 5,418.537, a missing vehicle is located through the use of a GPS receiver mounted on the vehicle. When the vehicle is missing, a paging request is broadcast by the vehicle location center. Upon receiving the broadcasted message, the vehicle resolves and conveys its location to the service center.
In Buss, U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,395, a remote unit is presented whereby the unit selects and displays messages matching the location of the remote unit. The network provides the unit with messages having a location signal. If the location signal picked up by the unit is within the unit's current location, the message is displayed, otherwise it is kept in memory for display at the appropriate location.
In Chapman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,491, a global status and positioning reporting system is described. A remote unit obtains its global location and updates the network with status information and location information as required. Such status information may include an emergency condition or relevant condition of the remote unit required by the network.
In Fomukong and al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,159 a location reporting satellite paging system with optional blocking of location reporting is disclosed. In that invention, a remote mobile unit obtains its location information and provides that information via the network to other network units requesting the information. The provision of such location information is done based on authorization information provided and routinely updated by the remote unit.
In all of the above-disclosed inventions, the location of the remote unit is utilized by the system. The deployment of location services could be quite beneficial to the general public if safely implemented. In today's market, such mobile units are usually small, compact and lightweight. These devices could easily be concealed to reveal the location of a mobile user without the user knowing or authorizing the disclosure of their location. Most wireless consumers might not want their location disclosed to the network or general public and the thought of being tracked by a clandestine unit concealed in an object such as a car or luggage to reveal the location of an individual would be unacceptable by the general public. The risk of abuse clearly exists and must be handled appropriately by wireless vendors. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,159 that provides authorization for location reporting, it would be almost impossible for the network to prevent a concealed location-reporting unit to provide the location of an individual being tracked, given an abuse is occurring. A need therefore exists for location reporting devices in a specific geographic region to reveal their location upon request. In situations where a user is being tracked, the network would be able to determine which units are tracking the user by querying for the location of remote units within a specified radius of the user or tracked unit. The techniques required to provide the above result are described in the invention.
Whenever a mobile user is stranded and requires immediate help, another mobile party may exist not too far from the location of the user. The mobile user may not be aware of the presence of the other mobile party at that geographic location. By paging for the location of portable remote units (PRUs) within the stranded area, a distressed subscriber may immediately sought help at that location. If the prescribed boundary specified by the mobile user exceeds pre-specified limits, the network may split that geographic area as described hereinafter. Pages may then be sent to specific areas in order to obtain the location of portable remote units in that geographic area. The location of any mobile location-reporting unit in a geographic area that is closest to the user will be revealed to the user.
Lots of other uses exist for such a service to be lucrative to a service provider. A wireless subscriber may opt to participate in the program and users of the system may be charged a fee each time the location of another PRU at a requested geographic boundary is provided to the user. Also, users in possession of portable remote units may be charged whenever they invoke the tracking mode in their PRU. To improve subscriber enrollment in the program, subscribers may also received benefits each time their location is provided to a distressed individual. Subscribers not requiring their locations disclosed at any time may block such information at the network. In situations where a PRU user is being tracked by another, the network will only reveal the location of the tracking unit only after both units have traveled a certain distance over a pre-specified period of time with the tracking unit maintaining proximity to the source during that period. Such distances and elapse times could be set as a standard by the industry to clearly define tracking.
The system presented requires mobile devices to communicate their location information to the network. As the number of location enabled devices within the network increases, certain components of the system may require the location of certain mobile devices reported in a manner that would prevent the component from being overloaded. Therefore, it is required that, a method and apparatus be provided to facilitate the provision of remote unit location information to the network to prevent network overloading and also minimize power consumption of the mobile device.
From the above there is clearly a need for a system whereby a remote unit should be able to request for the location of other remote units within a specific geographic area. The components of such a system are described hereinafter.